


In Another Life

by Broken_souls



Series: Heaven has no mercy [1]
Category: Good Omens (TV), Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
Genre: Apocalypse, Armageddon, Aziraphale and Crowley mentioned, Character Death, He/Him Pronouns For Gabriel (Good Omens), Other, They/Them Pronouns for Beelzebub (Good Omens)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-26
Updated: 2020-10-26
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:53:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27202069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Broken_souls/pseuds/Broken_souls
Summary: In another life..." He starts saying but he doesn't even know how to continue: in another life we could have been friends, in another life we would be like Aziraphale and Crowley, in another life we wouldn't be dying, in another life we would be something more than almost lovers.
Relationships: Beelzebub/Gabriel (Good Omens)
Series: Heaven has no mercy [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2006443
Comments: 8
Kudos: 19





	In Another Life

There is no-where to run and not a single place where he can hide. The sky is on fire, blood and screams, and Armageddon burning the world alive. This is what he had wanted, for more than six thousand years this is what he had been waiting for. Now he understands the irony, now he knows even if they win or they lose, _he won't make it out alive_.

Demons and angels are wrestling until their last breath, until their wings burn or their horns are broken. Gabriel is in a cathedral, in the ruins of what used to be a sacred place. He's hurt, he's bleeding, but the only thing he can do is stare. This is what he had wanted, this annihilation. He doesn't want it anymore.

"Heaven help us." He whispers, he pleads to _Her_. One of his wings is broken, he can't fly, he feels helpless, hopeless; but he had asked for this madness. When he begs it's not for Armageddon to end, nor it is for Heaven to be victorious. He only wants one thing. "Let _us_ have a merciful death."

 _She_ doesn't answer, _She_ never does, but Gabriel knows _She_ has heard him. He's bleeding even more than before, his white tunic soaked in red. As if showing the corruption of something holy. He can hear the battlecry echo like an anthem in that cathedral, he can see the dead bodies on the floor: angels, demons and humans dead, all equal in Death's eyes.

Talking about Death, he has seen him in the battlefield, Michael fighting the Lords of Hell while Gabriel slaughtered demons with holy water. Now looking back, Aziraphale's plan to run away with his lover to Alpha Centauri doesn't sound like pure nonsense, he should have asked if he could join them, he should have prevented Armageddon instead of looking forward it. He regrets so many things, but it's too late, the world is ending and he is going to die.

He hears a growl, an uneasy breathing and fast steps. Gabriel doesn't turn around at first, he's in too much pain to do so (Satan himself had wounded him, no angelic magic could save him now), but then he hears that voice. " _Gabriel?_ "

They never called him by his name, always addressing him by title or by some slightly offensive nickname. They had wanted that too, that horrible Apocalypse. And they regret it as much as he does.

Gabriel doesn't know what to do or say, address them by title? After all of this? What for? He's going to die anyway. Then he notices, Beelzebub is bleeding, flies around their rotten wound. He swallows hard. "You're dying..."

It's not a question. Beelzebub's trying to keep a steady breathing, a hand is pressing against their wound. They look at him: one of his wings extended, the other hanging there like a broken branch after a terrible thunderstorm; and then they sigh. "So are you." 

After all those years, after all those prideful fights neither of them will get to see the world that will remain after Armageddon, they will not get to taste the victory or feel the pain of defeat, they will not live to see the sun rise another day, they will not see each other again.

 _What happens when angels die?_ He never bothered to ask, now he's terrified of the answer.

 _What happens when demos die?_ They don't know but they can asume the worst. They disappear, no Heaven for them, no Hell waiting for their souls. Nothing, nothing at all. 

Beelzebub is so tired, they sit down unable to stand up any longer. Gabriel doesn't move, he's afraid if he does his wing will simply fall of his back, he would not be able to stand the sight of that. They both remain in silence while the world ends, there's so much to say and not enough time. "Why are you here?" They ask.

Gabriel growls, he has no honest way to explain he doesn't want to die without sounding pathetic, but the truth is he doesn't want the world to end, he doesn't want to win. He doesn't even know how to _cry_. "I wanted to talk to _Her_."

"What did you tell _Her_?"

"I asked for a merciful death" He says. Then, after a moment, his eyes met theirs and he admits. "For both of us."

They swallow, they look up at the sky searching for something, a sign that _She_ has listened to Gabriel's pleas, but the sky is red and only screams can be heard. "Are we going to die now?"

"I think we are, yes."

There is no pride in his words, no _'Heaven will win'_ bullshit, no charming smile; his blood is so heavy in his veins, and it burns as if it is poison, he wonders if that's what Pollution feels like to humans. In those very few instances before the end they stop being an angel and a demon and start feeling human. As terrifying as that is.

Both of them are scared, both of them are in pain, they want to cry and ask God why, what did they do to deserve all that unbearable pain. I don't think there's anything more human than that.

Gabriel finally decides to move, his wing is dragged through the ground, he doesn't even feel it. With a lot of effort he manages to sit down besides Beelzebub. Somehow he knows _She_ has listened to him, he knows they both will die in that cathedral, undisturbed by the chaos outside.

"In another life..." He starts saying but he doesn't even know how to continue: _in another life we could have been friends, in another life we would be like Aziraphale and Crowley, in another life we wouldn't be dying, in another life we would be something more than almost lovers._

They don't tell them to finish the sentence, their vision is starting to get blurry and they swear they have caught a glance of Death standing in the other side of the cathedral, when they blink there's nothing there. They look at Gabriel, at their broken wing, at their no longer perfect face, at the bloody tunic. "Afterlife is for humans, Gabriel, we don't have that, we don't get to have another life."

It is an invitation, what time if not now to do something blasphemous? Gabriel lowers down slowly, enough to give them time to back away, but they lean closer. He's crying, he has never cried before, he has never kissed anyone before. He finishes his sentence in his mind.

_In another life I'd have the chance to love you._

Death finds them crying, holding into each other, terrified of the end. The battle hasn't ended yet, there's isn't a clear winner, but that doesn't matter. Gabriel and Beelzebub have a smile on their lips, small and painful, but sincere.

 _She_ looks down at them, in another life _She_ would offer them a future together, in a life where they are not angels, in a life where they are not enemies, in a thousand different lifes where they can be together. But in this one _She_ can only offer this mercy

_For there is no kinder death than dying in the arms of a lover._

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you like this even if it doesn't have a "happy ending"
> 
> Kudos and comments are appreciated


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